“Somehow my mom always knew exactly what would taste best when we emerged. Persian cucumbers topped with sheep’s milk feta cheese rolled together in lavash bread. We chased the sandwiches with handfuls of ice cold grapes or wedges of watermelon to quench our thirst. That snack, eaten while my curls dripped with seawater and salt crust formed on my skin, always tasted so good. Without a doubt, the pleasures of the beach added to the magic of the experience.”

(SALT) Nosrat frees her readers to use their own senses instead of measuring cups. She says we should salt things until they taste like the sea, which is a beautiful thing, but it also sounds like just a lot of salt. NOSRAT: “Just use more than you’re comfortable with, I think, is a good rule for most people. Especially when you’re boiling things in salted water, most foods don’t spend that much time in that water…So the idea is to make the environment salty enough so that the food can absorb enough salt and become seasoned from within. A lot of times, you end up using less salt total if you get the salt right from within because then the thing isn’t over-seasoned on the outside and bland in the center.”

(FAT) “I think fat has this remarkable capability to offer us all these different and very interesting and delicious and sort of mouthwatering textures in our food. And it’s just about learning how to get those textures out of the fat that you’re already using.”

(ACID) “For me, it’s all about getting that nice tangy balance in a meal or in a bite or in a dish. And you can get that through a lot of things, citrus and vinegar and wine which are maybe the three most obvious and sort of well-known sources of acid…Almost every condiment we add to our food is acidic, which is why when you get – I don’t know – a bean and cheese burrito, you’re always like hungry for salsa and sour cream and guacamole to put on there because those things will just perk it up, you know, and add flavor.”

(HEAT) “And so the thing about heat I realized, it sort of boils down to when you’re cooking a food, your goal – no matter what the food is – is to get your desired result on the outside and on the inside. And so your dream is to get that perfect grilled cheese, where the outside is crisp and brown and buttery and delicious, and the inside is melty and perfect.”

If I ask you what constitutes “bad” eating, the kind that leads to obesity and a variety of connected diseases, you’re likely to answer, “Salt, fat and sugar.” This trilogy of evil has been drilled into us for decades, yet that’s not an adequate answer.

Minimally processed plants should dominate our diets.

Real food solves the salt/fat/sugar problem.

Processed foods — supply more than 80 percent of the sodium in typical American diets

Eat real food and your fat intake will probably be fine.

Sugar is not the enemy, or not the only enemy. The enemy is hyperprocessed food, including sugar.

A large part of our dietary problems might stem from something as simple as the skyrocketing and almost unavoidable consumption of caloric sweeteners and/or hyperprocessed carbs, which are in 80 percent of our food products.

Meanwhile, if we had to pick one target in the interim, caloric sweeteners are unquestionably it; they’re well correlated with weight gain (and their reduction equally well correlated with weight loss), Type 2 diabetes and many other problems.

For a man who holds a fork in one hand and a salt shaker in the other…Who’s been repeatedly scolded for the level of his salt intake…for salting his food before tasting it – – BooYah for me – – Boo Hoo to all my critics. You know who you are. New research spells it all out in Salt Guidelines Too Low for Good Health:

“Don’t toss out your salt shaker just yet: A new analysis from Denmark finds current recommended salt guidelines may be too low. The new research indicates that Americans consume a healthy amount of salt, even though daily averages exceed recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“For most people, there is no reason to change their dietary habits concerning salt, as most people eat what appears to be the safest amount,”

“…They found that low levels of salt consumption may be linked with a greater risk of death.”

Like this:

“Our sea salt caramel gelato blends ribbons of sea salt caramel into creamy caramel gelato” and glides smoothly into my belly. This product should not be sold over the counter. Dangerous. No need to look at calorie count. It is also versatile. Straight up with no chaser for dinner last night. Two scoops on two slices of warm Zucchini Walnut Bread for brunch. Equally delectable.

Inspiration: To Lori @ Donna & Diablo for her comment on my Mario Biondi post. “Mmmmm, that voice is like hot caramel….warm, sweet, enveloping….” I’d been on the hunt for caramel since the post on Friday night. And voila. Look what I found. Darn woman is solely responsible for soaring calorie counts.

Like this:

I’m off and running. (Tipped the scales at new 12-month record. Quite a bingeing week. Proud of yourself Pal? How far are you going to take this up?)

Humid morning, but not overly so for this time of the year. (Yet, you are sweating profusely. Ahhhhh, yes. Thai food last night. Equivalent of 1/8 lb intravenous injection of NaCl.And yes, that accounts for the weight jump. Water retention. Wave of relief – weight gain should be erased by morning. Will just slug back 3 quarts of water today. And Voila – back to sleek, fighting weight.)

Endomondo says that I’m 1/2 mile and 4 minutes ahead of what Garmin is recording. (Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Third run in a row and Endomondo has been wildly encouraging. And wildly wrong. I retract my prior glowing review. Yellow lights are flashing on this app. My trusty Garmin soldiers on.)

Two Miles. Sweat continues to roll. Rub my forehead with my forearm. Taste the Thai food salt now. (For as much as I’m secreting here, or is it excreting, I should bottle it like Worcestershire…)